Sarah (given name)

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Sarah
Actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was one well-known bearer of the name.
Pronunciation
GenderFemale
Origin
Language(s)Hebrew
Meaning"noblewoman", "princess",[1]
Other names
Related namesSara, Sarai, Sadie, Sasa, Seira, Sairah, Sally

Sarah is a common feminine given name of Hebrew origin.[2][3][4] It derives its popularity from the biblical matriarch Sarah, the wife of Abraham and a major figure in the Abrahamic religions. It is a consistently popular given name across Europe, North America,[1] and the Middle East — being commonly used as a female first name by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, and remaining popular also among non-religious members of cultures influenced by these religions.

In Hebrew, Sarah (שָׂרָה‎) is the feminine form of the noun Sar (שַׂר), which commonly translates to "chief", "ruler" or "prince". It is also related to the verb שָׂרָה‎, which is also the basis of the name Israel.[5] In Modern Hebrew, Sarah (שָׂרָה‎) is the feminine form of the word for "minister".

In the United States, Sarah has been counted among the top 150 given names since 1880, when name popularity statistics were first recorded in the United States. Sarah was ranked among the top 10 names from 1978 to 2002, reaching a plateau of popularity from the early 1980s to 1988. Every year since and including 1989, it has fallen in popularity, but it remained the 30th most–popular name for newborn girls in 2010. Its most common variant spelling, Sara, was number 121.[6]

The name has been similarly popular in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In England, it gained popularity after the Protestant Reformation.[1] In 2014, Sarah ranked as the tenth most popular female baby name in Ireland.[7]

In Nazi Germany, female Jews who did not have "typically Jewish" given names were forced to add "Sara" as of January 1939, whereas males were forced to add "Israel".[8][9]

Translations[edit]

  • Albanian: Sara
  • Amharic: ሳራ (Sara)
  • Arabic: سارة
  • Aramaic:ܣܪܐ
  • Armenian: Սառա
  • Azerbaijani: Sara
  • Bashkir: Сара (Sara)
  • Belarusian: Сара (Sara)
  • Balochi: saraa
  • Bengali: সারাহ (Sārāha)
  • Biblical Greek: Sarra
  • Biblical Latin: Sara
  • Bosnian: Sara
  • Bulgarian: Сара (Sara)
  • Catalan: Sara
  • Chinese Simplified: 莎拉 (pinyin: Shā lā)
  • Chinese Traditional: 莎拉 (pinyin: Shā lā)
  • Croatian: Sara
  • Czech: Sára
  • Danish: Sara
  • Dutch: Sarah, Sara
  • Estonian: Saara
  • English: Sarah, Sara
  • Faroese: Sára
  • Finnish: Saara, Sari, Saija, Salli, Sara
  • French: Sarah
  • German: Sarah, Sara
  • Greek: Σάρα (Sára)
  • Gujarati: સારાહ (Sārāha)
  • Haitian Creole: Sara
  • Hawaiian: Kala
  • Hebrew: שרה (Sārā)
  • Hindi: सराह (Sarāha)
  • Hungarian: Sára, Sári, Sárika, Sarolta, Sasa
  • Icelandic: Sara
  • Indonesian: Sarah, Sara
  • Iranian: سارا
  • Italian: Sara
  • Irish: Sorcha, Saraid, Sarah
  • Japanese: サラ (Sara), 沙羅 (Sara)
  • Kannada: ಸಾರಾ (Sārā)
  • Khmer: សារ៉ា (Sara)
  • Korean: 사라 (Sara)
  • Lithuanian: Sara
  • Macedonian: Сара (Sara)
  • Maori: Hara
  • Marathi: सारा (Sārā)
  • Mongolian: Сара (Sara)
  • Malayalam: സാറ, Sara, Saramma
  • Nepali: सारा (Sārā)
  • Norwegian: Sara
  • Persian: سارا
  • Polish: Sara
  • Portuguese: Sara
  • Romanian: Sara
  • Russian: Сара (Sara), Sarka, Sarra
  • Sanskrit: सार (Sara)
  • Serbian: Сара/Sara
  • Slovak: Sára
  • Slovene: Sara
  • Somali: Sahra
  • Spanish: Sara, Sarita, Zara
  • Swedish: Sara
  • Tamil: சாரா (Cārā)
  • Telugu: సారా (Sārā)
  • Thai: ซาร่าห์ (Sā r̀ā h̄̒)
  • Tigrigna: ሳራ (Sara)
  • Turkish: Sara, Sare
  • Uzbek: Sora
  • Ukrainian: Сара (Sara)
  • Urdu: سارہ
  • Vietnamese: Sara
  • Welsh: Sara
  • Yiddish: שרה (Soro), Sirke

People[edit]

Fictional characters[edit]

  • Sarah Connor, a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Terminator franchise
  • Sarah Kerrigan, a character in Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft franchise
  • Sarah Platt, a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street
  • Sarah Jane Smith, a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the BBC Television science fiction series Doctor Who and two of its spin-offs
  • Sarah Walker (Chuck), the alias of one of the main characters of the television show Chuck on NBC
  • Sarah Williams (Labyrinth), a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth

Other forms[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Behind the Name: Sarah". Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  2. ^ "The amazing name Sarah: Meaning and etymology".
  3. ^ "Sarah Name Meaning (Origin, Popularity & Nicknames)". 30 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Sarah | Etymology of the name sarah by etymonline".
  5. ^ "The amazing name Sarah: Meaning and etymology".
  6. ^ Popular Baby Names Archived 2018-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, Social Security Administration, United States. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  7. ^ "PASSPORTS ISSUED 2014 - 3 Years of Age or Under" (PDF). Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  8. ^ "Law on Alteration of Family and Personal Names — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum".
  9. ^ Schreiber, Mordecai; Schiff, Alvin I.; Klenicki, Leon (2003), The Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia, Schreiber, ISBN 9781887563772